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WebWord Weblog Posting

Posting Date: December 12, 2002
 

Lord Palmerston on Programming -- "Becoming proficient, really proficient, in just one programming world takes years. Sure, lots of bright teenagers learn Delphi one week and Python the next week and Perl the next week and think they are proficient. Yet they don't have the foggiest clue how much they're missing." (Comments: If you read the psychology literature, you will learn that it generaly takes about 10 years to become a true expert in something.)

 

  

Reader Comments...
 

If you read the psychology literature, you will learn that it generaly takes about 10 years to become a true expert in something

Ummm... Do you have any references?

Posted by: Ron Zeno on December 12, 2002 01:10 AM


 

Joel seems a bit too immersed in his Windows app programming and 'leaky abstractions' to have a good overview of programming in general.

Yes, it takes years to become a good programmer, and certainly takes years to learn all the horrendous workarounds and quirks involved in producing large mainstream desktop applications, but a talented person can switch between most server-side technologies used for Web development fairly quickly and painlessly. Things like planning, structure and logic are the important bits.
But then I get the impression Joel wouldn't consider that to be proper programming...

Posted by: Matt Round on December 12, 2002 04:35 AM


 

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